Indigo's Secret
by CromegasFlare
Summary: Daring Doo had just found a new friend, Indigo Spring is her name. As they travel deep into the Everfree Forest, Daring Doo finds a Shocking secret about Indigo. A secret that will Break her to the core.


_**Indigo**_

Indigo Spring found herself walking down a dark forbidden path which lead to Celestia knows where. The only pony that knew where she was going was the mare walking next to her, Daring Doo. Then again the answer was obvious that Daring really had no idea where she was going, for it had been quite some time now. The path that guided them was dark and matted with overgrown weeds, the trees on the side felt like they were going to snatch and devourer them at any moment. The trail was long and tedious, leading on and on into the endless chasm of the expanse. The only sign that they were going anywhere were the sudden increase in sudden noise.

"Hey Indie, how do you think we'll be able to recognize the monument to the spirit of deception?" asked Daring in a flat deadpan tone. "You told me that naturally there will be many paths when we get close to the monument and would be tricky to find the real one."

Indigo just look over to Daring in a bit of confusion, "I never told you that, you read it in a book remember" Said Indigo, "the book that you picked up in the Ponyville library called _Mysteries of the lost Shine of Induscis_, you should know what you read," replied Indigo. Letting the sound of the forest seep back into the conversation.

Daring just looked at Indigo, the last thing our adventurer needed was a smart pony who never helped with information, why it was information that allowed survival in these types of expeditions. Daring then continued to take a look at her companion to make sure that she was in fact getting her irritated mood. The pony that Daring was looking at, well Indigo any way, had a very impressive look about her. He was a Light Indigo color, the very shade between blue and violate. Her mane on the other hand was a light twist of blue and violate, making her pure indigo coat pop and shine. Her eyes were the sad bit, for they were an orange color and clashed with the rest of her coat. Then there was Indigo's cutie mark, it was a deep red ruby, upright with the point facing down equestrian cut ruby. The style of her mane was what had confused her; it was similar to how her own mane looked just with her own colors.

Indigo was very tired of being berated with questions; she had met with Daring in the library soon after she had read about the lost location of the Shrine. Indigo had decided to join along with Daring due to the irresistible urge to go out and adventure. Why she wanted to go out she was not so sure but it was worth a shot. The sounds of beasts in the forest were finally interrupted when Daring spoke again.

"Well is there anything you could help me with?" asked Daring in a lightly annoyed manner, "you are welcome to join me in this quest, but I am quite used to working _alone_, she said giving a lower vibe to the last word.

Indigo just stared right back at the adventurist mare, "I'm a unicorn, there are plenty of things I could do to help out with. Remember that as we were leaving Ponyville there was a crazy pink pony who tried to give us a welcoming?" asked to colorful mare. "Well if you do recollect to that time, I just went zap and she went 'poof' right into wherever she sleeps all, and I can tell you that she was asleep"

Daring was not convinced however, not to the fact of what Indigo did to the pink pony, but of her capabilities to actually help with this trek. "So what is your plan to find the lost shrine?" asked daring is a stern voice, she really did not want to be stuck with a dead weight.

Indigo just smiled, "I never really plan for anything, just where I want to go from where I start, the rest I just...improvise." Knowing that she had struck home with her response, watched as Daring's serious look brightened into a pleased smile.

"Now that is the type of spirit I like to see in a pony." Said Daring, having her hopes in this strange pony raised slightly, but still not completely sure of the pony's capability. "It will at least keep you alive." after saying these words Indigo saw Daring give a slight shake of the head like she was getting rid of a nasty memory that invaded her well being. Indigo assumed it was a memory of one of Daring's past companions that did not make it out alive in one of her past quests.

Daring then went on talking out loud so her companion would be brought up to speed, also to help jog her memory faster, giving it that extra concentration power by putting it in voice. "So the shrine should be around here somewhere, the book said that _**you will be close when nature gains deaf ears**_," said the tan mare. "So the big question is, what does it mean by nature gaining deaf ears? Do you have any Idea what that could mean Indie? I am thinking of things like the forest trying to kill us thus making us silent."

The deep spectrum mare thought for a bit before answering, "I think that booby traps are already part of the equation and won't happen until we know we are there, but to be honest I really don't know what the book is thinking.

Indigo looked into Daring's eyes and could see the struggle of to the lines of, "great! I'm stuck with a pony who only points out the obvious and won't bother thinking of another answer. That is the last thing I need, so why am I sticking around her?" Daring's thought then turned to the memory of Indigo telling her that she comes from a wealthy line and would like to come along with the price of bits that are willing to be paid. "Ugh, well I guess that I must let her stick around."

The two ponies walked a little bit in silence, leaving each other in their own thoughts. Indigo smiled as they walked, then suddenly brought herself to a stop. "Hey Daring, I think I know what 'deaf ears' means," she said causing Daring to stop, turn, and give her a quizzical look. Indigo continued to reveal her revelation, "Just take a moment to listen, what do you hear?"

This had Daring's attention she perked up her ears as she listened for anything, any sound, and any clue to what Indigo was referring to, only to try in vain as the forest brought no sound to them. Then it hit her, there was no sound! It was as if the forest itself became deaf. This new clue however put a feeling of deep regret in the pit of her stomach, why would the forest want to act like this place was not here? Was all she could ask herself, it was not like the spirit of deception was a real being, was it. At this thought all the memories of all the strange things that she had experienced she asked herself on very important question. "Would I be surprised if the danger became real?" The obvious answer being a no, she made her decision. She was going to make herself prepared for anything; act like the threat was real, and immanent. On that thought Daring brought herself to crack a small smile that would convince anypony that, that one mare is invincible.

Indigo saw this slight smile and whispered absolutely no sound, what so ever. This brought a bigger smile on the adventurer because she knew that if it was quiet then they were closer to their goal. With a confidant repositioning of her hat, she went to look for more clues nearby for an entrance way. Indigo looked left from where she was standing then looked right. She was standing by a heavy hedge that looked like it was made completely made from moss and vines. She put out a hoof to wipe and shuffle the gunk away to reveal a stone wall with strange carvings in it. Indigo smiled, a little mischievously to, "Hey Daring I found something over here, what do you make of it, some kind of warning?"

Getting Daring's attention yet again, the pegasus walked over to the uncovered wall, a wall that seemed call out to her. Not in a beckoning way, but a repelling way. Yes, it was like the artifact did not want to be uncovered, "maybe Indie is right, it could be a warning," thought daring as she looked at the string of symbols that were scowled on the wall. It really did not make sense, they were just random symbols. "This wall has nothing of value, let's just look around until we find something ells," said Mrs. Doo turning around, unable to resist the repelling effect of the wall.

Indigo frowned, she had gone too far to just stop here, "No its not, just watch," she said as her horn started glowing. In a couple of seconds the wall started to crack but would give to further. However the crack seamed to let out light from the other side. "Daring, I think there is something behind this wall, and not just more forest ether."

The pegasus let out a grunt as she turned around to return to the wall, though it seemed that it was a little more relevant to the situation. Daring also noticed that the felling of forbidding fading away and was no longer there, whatever Indigo did to the wall, it no longer had a negative effect on the mind. "Maybe it was a good idea to bring her after all," Daring thought to herself.

She went over to the wall and saw what the unicorn was talking about, on the other side there seemed to be its own independent light source on the other side. "I don't seem to be strong enough to break this wall, do you have any idea how to?" asked the unicorn, "I'm thinking a good central kick could do the trick"

The soothing voice of Indigo was quite convincing on that course of action, so Daring turned herself around a prepared her rear hooves, then with a burst of strength she kicked the wall down. As her hooves made contact with the rock however, instead of crumbling down to the ground the whole wall just turned into dust. "huh?" questioned Daring in wonder, "how did that happen?"

Indigo rolled her eyes, "It was probably an old wall that could barely hold up on its own," she said shrugging off the concern in question. To the unicorn, it was pretty irritating to lead by a pony that had to question every single detail, especially one that was irrelevant to the point at hoof.

"OK, if you say so Indigo." replied the pegasus, who was not at all convinced of Indigo's reasoning. In fact, her lack of concern and put a sour trust into the mare, for if the wall really was just that weak then why did she not just break it down herself. Indigo must know something more about this place then what she is letting on.

The duo walked into the hidden clearing the soon realized why the area seemed to have its own light source. The clearing itself was about as big as the court yard of the palace, with trees that were beautifully trimmed, there were flower filled with tulips, pansies, irises, and even a bed with poison joke. The ground around was not like the forest on the outside, the grass was cut clean like there was somepony continually making the place look pretty. In the center was a pond of crystal clear water that looked so smooth It could easily be made of glass. and above the pool was a small opening of in the roof of trees were sunlight came in, somehow it was the right time of day for the sun to be shinning right on the lake, making the area around the shine. Then there were paths and buildings that surrounded the clearing, about a dozen buildings all upright and magnificent, with walls of marble laying the edges and lapis colored shingles laid on the roof tops, each looking exactly the same. The Paths seemed to lead deeper into the forest oasis, rumored was told in the book, were leading to other buildings just like the one that was before them. The book also mentioned that each building had a deadly trap waiting to catch any intruder unfortunate enough to walk with in, all the building except the one true shrine.

"OK, this is where it gets hard, how do we find the real shrine I don't have enough clues to safely make the correct decision" Daring thought to herself, then she pulled out her book which was titled _'Mysteries of the lost Shine of Induscis' _, she then took the book and opened it up.

"You might want to go to page 138, that is where they talk about the location of the shrine" said Indigo out of the blue. The unicorn flinched as soon as she said this, but the pegasus did not seem to notice. She was getting too close to fail now, she had to play it smart and not slip up again.

In obedience to the suggestion, Daring turned to the page which was suggested and red. "_Certain doom will fall to the self blind, only those who see themselves will find the shrine. Darkness overlaps all the rooms, but only the light will reveal the truth._" These words happened to be underlined which began to make Daring suspicious. By this point she know that Indigo was up to something, one of those companions who will betray her at the last moment? The truth was Daring would not at all be surprised if this were the case, however there was nothing she could do at this point.

"What do you think it could mean by _'Certain doom will fall to the self blind, only those who see themselves will find the shrine'_?" asked daring out loud letting Indigo in her brainstorming, looking up to see that Indigo was at this point walking towards the pond smiling. Then she looked back down to where her book lye.

"Well it could mean anything really, maybe we have to look into ourselves in order to find the shrine, you know… trust our instincts-" Her statement was cut short with a short scream of fright then faded into total silence.

Daring stood up from her studying in Immediate attention, Getting herself into her undeniably unstoppable position she looked to where she last saw Indigo and saw absolutely nothing there. "What where did she go?" asked the adventurer who then picked up her book with her wing and placed it in her saddle bag. She then progressed to the side of the pond to see if she could find any clues to her friend's disappearance. "Indigo, where are you?" she shouted hoping that her cries were not in vane, after all the scream that Indie let out was not a scream of agony but more of surprise.

When daring reached the side of the pond she looked into the the water hoping that she might of not fallen in. As she was looking she could see her own reflection in the pond, that was when the idea hit her. 'Only the light will reveal the truth' of course, that's it. The pond was the shrine the only place that the light hit, without another thought she closed her eyes and took a leap forward, jumping right into the water.

A cool fresh feeling came over her as she fell through the surface of the pond, only the feeling was not as wet as she would have suspected but instead felt like she left a warm room and came into a colder room. The smell of roses filled her nostrils as she hit the floor, and she opened her eyes to see Indigo standing right before her, smiling as a filly would smile when the destination was reached, yet with a slight bit of malice to it as well.

"You know how long it took for me to finally get here Daring?" she said, now lacking her voice of honey. "To tell you the truth, I really don't know myself." She said

Slightly confused Daring started to look around the room she was now in, it was a white room with black vines climbing up the walls; the ground was all but black as well, and in the sender of the room stood a ruby. Upon closer analyses the ruby looked exactly like the ruby on Indigo's flank.

"Well why did you want to come here anyway?" asked Daring as her anger started to rise, her instincts where right. Indigo was planning to betray her and use her.

"You know Daring, I really don't have a reason to come here other than to escape my bondage, but now that we are here I can finally escape, and you are going to be the one to help me do so."

With said, a beam of red light shot out from the ruby and hit Daring right in the chest, the red light being a form of energy began to lift Daring from her position and carried her closer to the center, much like how a unicorn would use telekinesis. The red light also did much more than just lift Daring, it started to dissipate the illusions around her, Indigo started to turn into a wisp of air that was connected to her saddle bag, she watched as Indigo's body evaporated into a mist of the color indigo, her smiling face being the last to dissipate the mist flowed into her saddle bag.

The red energy then began to open her saddle bag and pulled out the book which was confined within. The book then began to turn black, glowing with an indigo color. The room around her seemed to melt only showing an old shack made out of bamboo in its place. The ruby however was still in the center, glowing red, she then felt something strange start tingling around her, looking down she was surprised to see that her own hooves began to dissipate into a tan mist. Despite the cries of terror the brave pegasus emitted her whole body began to dissipate as well. When the process finally made it to her head and turned her into a complete vapor, she was unpleasantly surprised that she should still see like she still had her eyes.

The book by her then started to release indigo colored vapor, spewing out of the pages of the book like a water fall that forgot the laws of gravity. The indigo vapor then began to swirl around at a rapid pace and began to look like a small twister that gave no wind. As she watched the swirling continued slowly making a body appear. Over time a body was made a body that looked rather familiar. Standing before Daring's sights was none other than Indigo herself, except there was a major change, her cutie mark was no longer a ruby for now in its place on her flank sat a tree with purple bosoms.

Daring then began to feel a pull, in shock she looked down on her own misty form and saw that the tail of her tan vapor was being sucked into the book. Trying to let out a scream, yet in vane all she could do was watch as the book took her into her new home for the next fifty years.

Daring sat in darkness, or at least she thought she was sitting, it was hard to tell considering her position. As she thought about her predicament she heard a voice from above,... or was it below. In all honesty the voice could be coming from anywhere, but Indigo's voice was all too familiar to her.

"I have to thank you Daring, really I do. After being imprisoned by the ruby I really thought I would never be free." said Indigo's voice, but now that I'm free I thank you. Now I would tell you exactly what happened, but it will be easier to just show you. With that Daring felt what was a touch on her forehead, and Immediately fallowing was the vision of indigo's life.

_A small filly with parents and friends, finding out that she could bring joy and happiness to all around her: She grew older with more friends, and then she found the book. The book claimed to show her where she could find an item that would shine joy to all ponies around her, as soon as she opened the book a stallion approached her and offered help to finding the stone, after telling her that he too had read the book before. After a While they found themselves in the middle of a dessert that had nothing but a bamboo shack in the middle. In excitement Indigo rushed in ready to claim her prize, only to be surrounded my red energy and suffer the same fate which she had caused to Daring herself. The stallion laughed as his body came into focus and touched the book giving Indigo all the information that she needed. After 200 years the book somehow found itself in the middle of a strange town, a town that could not be recognized, by any but the stallion who was first in the book._

_After some time she sat in the book shelves waiting for someone to free her, Then Daring saw herself pick up the book and open it, only to immediately be tossed right into the illusion of Ponyville. The Illusion image of Indigo then appeared to Daring and then continued to the illusion of the forest. It was then that Daring realized that the book wrote itself to the interests of the reader, causing the reader to be intrigued by lie that was within. Watching the vision to the end, daring realized that her only hope of escape was if any were to open the book, then she could help the person and lead them to her freedom._

Could Daring really do that, guide somepony to their fate, to only let herself be free? One would be surprised at what one could do if stuck in a book for fifty years.

Rainbow Dash was having quite a day, flying around feeling the wind in her mane, to her life could not get much better. A smile grew on the cyan pegasus face, "_or can it?_" Rainbow thought. With that she drove down into a dive, adrenalin coursing through her body, this was it! This is going to be the time she perfects her corkscrew lightning loop trick,

Her body flying straight down towards the ground she waited until she had just enough speed to complete the maneuver, once she found that her velocity was adequate to be utilized, she began to spin herself into a corkscrew dive, then using her wings she pushed herself up matching with her spin so she would curve up instead of zigzagging in Celestia knows what direction. As she came to the peak of her loop she gulped, here was the hard part. Keeping herself in control when gravity helped her decent. Her curve of the loop came to the downward portion as she made her way down the sky. heading towards the ground, with all effort she kept her control using her wings with less power to only but guide her way down, with success she leveled herself to the ground and flew straight with extra speed and flew right through a cloud causing lightning to shoot out and loop much the way Rainbow her self had been.

Looking back Rainbow let out a cheer of her success, for this was only her second time trying to complete the trick and she did it with perfection. "I am Awesome" she yelled at the top of her lungs turning her head back to look where she was going. Much to her own shock she turned just in time to see the old unicorn mare that she was about to crash into. "Watch out!" was all rainbow could say before colliding with the mare.

"Ough," groaned the pegasus as she picked herself up from the unsuspecting cushion. "I'm sorry, are you alright?" she asked looking at the mare she crashed into. She was an old pony with a bleached coat; however the coat still had a beautiful Indigo tint to it. He eyes were orange and her cutie mark was a tree with pink blossoms on it.

"Yes I'm fine, just was not expecting to be knocked over like that." said the mare as she stood herself up, and then noticed that something was missing. "Oh my, where is my saddle bag?" she asked, looking around frantically.

Rainbow looked around and then found what the mare was looking for, the saddlebag was not too far away. "Here it is" said Rainbow as she picked it up, as she did so a book fell out. "Oops, she said as she handed the bag to the old mare, "I'll get that for you." She said as she picked up the book and taking a good look at it, the title caught her attention. "_Secrets to agile flyers_, wow that is some book. Why would a unicorn like you need a book about flying?" asked Rainbow in curiosity.

The old mare smiled, "well I really don't need a book like that, so if you want to borrow it you can" she said with a little extra honey in her voice. A eager flyer like you should have a book like this anyway. If you want it you can have it."

At the mares offer Rainbow smiled, "thanks I'm sure this can help me find more awesome moves that what I have now." said the ace, "Say, what is your name any way? Mine is Rainbow Dash." saying her name with a little extra bravado.

"My name is Indigo Spring, nice to meet you Rainbow Dash, good luck with you tricks, but I really need to be heading somewhere." with that the old mare turned around and walked away from the pegasus.

At the end of the day Rainbow finally had a chance to sit down, she looked around at the park she was in, there were beautiful flowers all around and many other things that would help a pony relax. Today however Rainbow was curious to what she would find in this new book of hers. Opening to the middle of the book she began to read 'Some flyers were naturally gifted to be great, yet some of the greatest pegasi in Equestria did not start out that way, however with the help of the Flyers Ruby, they were able to train themselves into greatness'

"This is so cool" Rainbow cheered as she read through the book some more.

Behind her a figure started to form, a figure that only Rainbow could see if she were to look, but of course if one is into a book, they don't notice the obvious. Once Daring was finally materialized as an Illusion, looking around she recognized where she was at instantly, "Huh? Ponyville, who would of know." She walked over to the unfortunate soul who called herself Rainbow Dash, a fitting name really given the color of her mane. "What are you reading there kid?" she heard he own voice say.

"A neat book about how I can Improve my flying" said Rainbow Dash as she turned her head to look at her visitor, "not that I need much to improve on-" Rainbow stopped mid sentence once she saw who she was talking to. "Daring Doo!" she squealed in excitement, much to the confusion of the tan pony, "Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!" Which was all the Rainbow could say after that, not noticing as the world around her would change forever.


End file.
